Cape Town - An urgent application by Equal Education (EE) and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) against the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and the Department of Basic Education for the immediate placement of unplaced learners has been struck off the roll at the Western Cape High Court.
The legal teams accompanied by concerned parents gathered at the court on Friday hoping for the application to be heard urgently but were let down when an issue with the practice note resulted in the matter being struck off the urgent matters rolls.
Earlier this week the organisation’s attorney, Yolisa Piliso, said they filed the application on April 11 with the hope the matter was going to be heard on Friday, saying they had been experiencing difficulties as the WCED had difficulty finding counsel.
Education MEC David Maynier said they would be opposing the matter as by the time schools closed last year, they had already placed 99.4% of applicants for this year. In addition 4 000 late applications were also processed and placed.
During court proceedings yesterday, Equal Education legal representatives argued that they have a right for the matter to be heard, but the judge questioned why the matter was placed on the urgent roll when the legal teams for Equal Education had placed a note saying if the WCED’s counsel had not responded by April 25, they would place the matter on the unopposed roll.
The WCED’s legal team said as they had not responded the matter should be moved off the urgent roll and the judge agreed.
“You are saying there is an opportunity for redress. The matter is struck off the roll,’ she said.
Nontsikelelo Dlulani of Equal Education said they are disappointed by the decision taken by the court and believe the Judge made an error.
‘We strongly believe that the honourable judge hearing the matter made an error of judgement in striking our matter off of the urgent court roll without having read our court papers or even giving our legal representatives an opportunity to address her on the urgency of the matter.
“The High Court is the upper guardian of every child in South Africa and the court has the responsibility of protecting and realising every child’s immediately realisable right to access education. The fact that there are still children who remain without a school four months into the 2024 academic year is in fact an urgent matter.
“We believe this matter should have been heard despite the Western Cape Education Department’s every effort to delay the hearing of this matter and their continued use of legal tactics to delay and derail the hearing of this matter.”
She said the organisation would return to court on Monday.
“Accordingly, we have this morning set the matter down on the unopposed roll and we will be back in the High Court on Monday, April 29, because as every day passes, children from marginalised communities like Khayelitsha, Strand and Kraaifontein remain unplaced. They are being deprived of their constitutional right to education and this should be treated with urgency.
“We have no time to waste in getting these learners into the classroom. EE and the EELC will remain resolute in ensuring the placement of all learners.”